A healthcare provider may have difficulty in obtaining medical information desired for a healthcare recipient, such as a patient. The medical information, such as an allergy or an image of a healthcare recipient, may be necessary for a proper diagnosis and/or treatment. Medical information of the healthcare recipient may be distributed in a variety of locations and in a variety of different formats. Medical information may be stored, for example, at a previous healthcare provider, a specialist, a healthcare plan provider (such as insurance company) or the healthcare recipient (or caregiver). Medical information may be stored in either an electronic or paper format. Medical information possessed by different healthcare providers (or the healthcare recipient) may have incompatible electronic formats that prevent one healthcare provider from readily accessing transferred medical information. One healthcare provider may use particular application software for retrieving, creating and viewing images, while another healthcare provider uses different application software for retrieving, creating and viewing images. Medical information also may be incomplete or lost during storage and transfers that may lead to duplicate tests, unnecessary hospitalizations and other side effects contributing to healthcare costs. A request for transferring medical information may also increase healthcare costs. The delay in waiting for the transferred medical information may also lead to a delay in diagnosis or treatment that reduces the effectiveness of the healthcare.
A healthcare provider also may have difficulty in obtaining information regarding eligibility of healthcare payments, such as whether a patient is covered by a particular insurance healthcare plan or insurance carrier. A healthcare recipient may have a document that indicates coverage of a particular healthcare plan, such as a policy number. Typically, a healthcare recipient does not select what information and in what form the information is provided on the document. A healthcare recipient may provide this document to the healthcare provider before diagnosis or treatment. However, this document may not provide current and detailed eligibility information, such as whether a particular test is authorized or whether the healthcare recipient is currently eligible. For example, the healthcare recipient may have changed employment and thus insurance healthcare plans are not reflected by the document or alternatively has reached insurance coverage limits.